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Op/Ed: ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC. CELEBRATES WITH AMERICA THE ELECTION OF ITS FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN PRESIDENT

President-Elect Barack Obama was in Baltimore campaigning on Feb. 11, 2008 before a capacity crowd at Baltimore Arena. More than 13,000 packed the hall.

(BALTIMORE - November 7, 2008) —Marian Wright Edelman once said, “It is not often that great leaders and great turning points in history converge and sweep us up in a movement. My generation was blessed beyond measure to be in the right places at the right times to experience and help bring transforming changes to the South and to America in partnership with mentor-leaders like Dr. King, seeking to serve God and a cause bigger than ourselves.”

On November 4, 2008 another great turning point occurred when the nexus of dream and reality occurred in a moment in time for this generation and history was made. The generation of our ancestors fought to transform America and today we see the magnitude of that transformation. The men of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. stand with the world in celebrating the realization of Alpha Brother Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream of a unified nation; a nation where people are judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.

As the 44th President of the United States of America, President-Elect Obama represents the tangible example that in America things are possible; if we exercise our faith, demonstrate our integrity and work hard to ensure that dreams become reality.

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. was founded over 100 years ago on the premise that men of African descent in America could and would live the full meaning of the American dream. For 102 years Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. has supplied voice and vision to the struggle of African Americans, people of color and others around the world.

We have long stood at the forefront of the American community's fight for civil rights, through Alpha men such as W.E.B. DuBois, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Paul Robeson, Edward Brooke, Hubert Humphrey, Andrew Young, William Gray, Cornel West and many others. Through our decades old voter education program: “A Voteless People is a Hopeless People”, we helped to sow the seeds that were realized in these transformative efforts we see before us today.

Thus, we are proud and humbled by the fact that a man of African descent has today been elected President of the United States of America. We stand as always, dedicated and committed to not just watch the reality of a dream live out its promise, we are committed to remain an influential part of the fiber of all it represents for African Americans and the world at large – that all men are created equal and can do all things with the strength of God and self-determination.

On behalf of the tens of thousands of Alpha Brothers around the world, I extend congratulations to President-Elect Barack Obama, his wife Michelle, their daughters and family for making history that we all can be proud of.

Founded on December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. has continued to supply voice and vision to the struggle of African Americans and people of color around the world. The Fraternity has long stood at the forefront of the African-American community's fight for civil rights, through Alpha men such as Martin Luther King Jr., Adam Clayton Powell, Thurgood Marshall, Andrew Young, Retired Senator Edward Brooke and Cornel West. Others include members of the 110th Congress including: Emanuel Cleaver, II (MO), Charles B. Rangel (NY),Danny K. Davis (IL), Chaka Fattah (PA), Al Green (TX), Gregory Meeks (NY), David Scott (GA), Robert C. Scott (VA). The fraternity through its college and alumni chapters serves the community through nearly a thousand chapters in the United States, Europe and the Caribbean.

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